Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 853 Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC decreased its stake in Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) by 16.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,189 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 853 shares during the quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Intuit were worth $2,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Intuit by 173.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,687,583 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,304,850,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,654 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Intuit by 940.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 315,670 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $205,186,000 after purchasing an additional 285,328 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Intuit by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,057,696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,937,502,000 after purchasing an additional 283,291 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Intuit during the 2nd quarter valued at about $184,982,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Intuit by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,114,975 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,946,954,000 after buying an additional 270,432 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intuit

In other news, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.03, for a total transaction of $535,327.86. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,384,755.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Alex G. Balazs sold 2,941 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.76, for a total transaction of $1,849,183.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,575.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sandeep Aujla sold 862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.03, for a total value of $535,327.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,840 shares in the company, valued at $2,384,755.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,297 shares of company stock worth $35,220,046. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Intuit Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of INTU traded down $2.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $616.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,275,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,328,583. Intuit Inc. has a 52 week low of $473.56 and a 52 week high of $676.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $172.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $630.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $628.58.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The software maker reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.14. Intuit had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 18.19%. The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Intuit Inc. will post 14.04 EPS for the current year.

Intuit Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from Intuit’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Intuit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on INTU. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Intuit from $770.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Intuit from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $685.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Intuit in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $760.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Intuit from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $757.00 price objective on shares of Intuit in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Intuit has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $735.71.

Intuit Profile

Intuit Inc provides financial management and compliance products and services for consumers, small businesses, self-employed, and accounting professionals in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Small Business & Self-Employed, Consumer, Credit Karma, and ProTax.